Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris may have the endorsement of the nation's largest and oldest Latino civil rights organization, but Hispanic voters see through her and her politics, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart said on Newsmax Tuesday.
"The people are hurting, right?" the Florida Republican told Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "I mean, the economy is not great despite what we hear from coming out of the White House."
The key will be to focus on everyday issues, as Hispanic voters "have the same issues that every other American has," Diaz-Balart said. "If anything, it's more acute in some Hispanic communities."
The League of United Latin American Citizens late last week announced its endorsement for Harris, marking the first time the organization has endorsed a presidential candidate since its founding in 1929.
More than 36.2 million Latinos will be eligible to cast ballots for president this year, the highest in electoral history, according to Pew Research.
But Diaz-Balart pointed out Tuesday that "Latinos are not too concerned about personalities."
"They're concerned about the future of our country," he said. "They're concerned about their families. They're concerned about their well-being and their economy. So I think it is important for the Trump campaign to continue to focus on those issues, those day-to-day, bread and butter issues."
He added that he does not think the LULAC endorsement is a cause for concern for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
"I think the cause for concern is that the country was looking at [President Joe] Biden and was looking at a person who's frail, who is not doing well, and the numbers reflected that," he said.
But now that Harris has replaced him in the race, the issues for voters remain the same, the congressman added.
"The insecurity in the streets, the southern border, the cost of living, the cost of a dozen eggs is a luxury item right now, those issues remain, and they're going to haunt Harris as long as obviously, the Trump campaign focuses on the issues that are impacting people's lives," said Diaz-Balart. "I'm still really optimistic, but we can't expect that the numbers are going to continue to be as bad as they were for Biden."
Meanwhile, Trump, in a conversation with X owner Elon Musk Monday night, called out Harris for flip-flopping on her stance on the border, and Diaz-Balart said he agrees that the Latino community sees through her tough talk on the issue.
"She's been in the White House for 3 1/2 years," he said. "She was the one in charge of fixing the situation on the southern border, and it's pretty clear that the southern border is affecting everybody."
The situation is also affecting people trying to enter the United States illegally, because of the delays in asylum processing, said Diaz-Balart.
"If you have a potentially real claim of asylum, good luck," he said. "[You have a] fat chance of getting that claim processed in a timely fashion, so everybody is being affected by the ridiculous, the incompetence of the White House, including the incompetence in dealing with the southern border. Hispanics more than anybody else are feeling the effects of a border czar that has been beyond a dismal failure."
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